The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the case back to a district court in Gallup for a hearing Friday on whether Jeff submitted enough valid voter signatures on nominating petitions to qualify as a candidate.

Jeff has broken party ranks in the House to side with Republicans and Gov. Susana Martinez on high profiles issues, including proposals to stop the state from issuing driver's licenses to immigrants living illegally in the country.

The justices are temporarily blocking the secretary of state from mailing out ballots to overseas voters while the case is pending.

Two other Democrats are running against Jeff in the primary.

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)